And A Happy New Year
by Tammy Tamborine
Summary: It's New Year's Eve. Raven's learning to cook, and looking forward to a new year with Beast Boy. BBRae.


Hey everybody! Just a quick note. This is a one-shot that takes place after my last fic, A Partridge in a Pear Tree. If you haven't read it already, I don't think it's really needed, you should be able to followthis onewell enough. Just know that Beast Boy and Raven are already together. Got it? Good! On with the story!

* * *

Raven reached into the Titans' oven, pulling out what was supposed to be an apple pie. She looked over the pastry critically; pies weren't supposed to be this shade of black, were they? Sighing, she placed the ruined pie on the counter, next to several other attempts at cooking.

Why did she need to make 'Learn to cook' her New Year's resolution? She didn't really _need_ to learn how to cook, did she? Looking over at the counter, Raven raised an eyebrow. Okay, maybe she did need a few cooking lessons.

Turning the stove off and flinging her oven mitts onto the counter by the oven, Raven walked over to the couch. It was only December 31; she didn't need to start her resolution for another couple hours, at least.

The door of the main room opened with a hiss as Raven picked up her book.

"Dude! Cookies!" Beast Boy exclaimed, looking at one of the plates as he walked in. Raven turned around to warn him of her failed attempts in baking, but Beast Boy had already lifted one of the small pucks to his mouth.

"OWWW!" he yelled, spitting out the cookie and holding his jaw. "What are you doing? Painting rocks and trying to pass them off as cookies?"

"I made those earlier. I think I might have skipped a few ingredients."

"Like _baking powder_?" Beast Boy asked, inspecting his throbbing teeth in a spoon reflection.

"Baking powder? Is it really that important?" asked Raven, blinking at him. Beast Boy looked over at her in mild bewilderment.

"Are you kidding me? Of course it's important! Unless, of course, you want to feed everyone chocolate chip door stops!"

Raven flushed a bit and looked at her green boyfriend angrily.

"Hey, you're no Emeril Lagasse yourself," she defended herself. To her annoyance, Beast Boy just smiled at her in amusement.

"I'm not?" he asked. "And how would you know this?"

"Oh, please," Raven groaned, rolling her eyes. "All you know how to cook is tofu, sandwiches and waffles."

"Hey, that's more than you can handle," Beast Boy told her, picking up one of her cupcakes as an example; if it could be called a cupcake, as it sagged pathetically in his hand.

"Let's see you do better!" Raven smirked triumphantly as his face fell and he rubbed his neck. He laughed nervously.

"No, that's okay, really… I'll just leave you to your cooking," he told her, slowly backing out of the room.

"No, you're going to stay here with me and help make snacks for the New Year's party tonight," Raven informed him, walking over to him and grabbing his hand. She pulled him over to the kitchen.

He looked at the cooking utensils uncertainly. Spatulas, whisks and numerous other kitchen accessories swam before his eyes, and Raven smirked at her boyfriend's confused expression.

"You know what? You're right. I can't cook, so I guess you win this one and I'll be on my way!" he babbled, quickly giving her a kiss on the cheek and turning in a mad sprint for the door. A wall of black energy stopped him before he could escape.

"You really think a kiss on the cheek and a quick wave of the white flag is going to get you out of this?" Raven asked, using her powers to pull the unwilling boy back to the kitchen area.

"How about a kiss on the lips?" he suggested, laughing hopefully. Leaning over, Raven gave him a quick peck on the lips and stood up straight again.

"You still have to help," she told him, smiling lightly at the goofy smile that had spread across his face because of the kiss. Shaking the dreamy expression from his face Beast Boy whined.

"Aww, do I have to?" he asked, slumping behind the counter anyway.

Raven gazed across the counter of reject confections. She had tried making cookies, pie, cupcakes, pudding, caramel popcorn, peanut brittle, and a few things that Raven wasn't even sure of anymore. What should they try now?

"Oh! Let's make a New Year cake!" Beast Boy suggested, his usual grin plastered across his face.

Shrugging, Raven opened the cookbook she had been using earlier. Starfire had graciously allowed Raven to use it, as it was full of easy recipes for earthly cuisine.

Flipping through the brightly illustrated pages, Raven chose a simple looking cake recipe. She pulled out a large mixing bowl and a flat pan and set the oven for the appropriate temperature.

"Okay, we need three cups of flour," she told Beast Boy.

"Flour… flour…"Beast Boymumbled, looking through the many ingredients spread out across the counter. "I can't find any."

"I think I might have used it all up," she admitted. "There's a new bag in the pantry."

Beast Boy skipped over to the pantry and pulled out the large bag of all-purpose flour. He walked over to her and began tugging at the sides of the bag. Raven's eyes widened as he struggled, remembering the bag of marshmallows he had exploded in quite a similar manner less than a week ago.

As he gave one final tug, Raven quickly lifted her hands to cover her face. After a few seconds, nothing happened. Hesitantly lowering her hands she looked over at Beast Boy.

"I found a pair of scissors," he told her, holding up the bag, which had been carefully cut along the top. Raven sighed and handed Beast Boy a measuring cup. After he had carefully poured three cups of flour into the mixing bowl, Beast Boy placed the bag on the counter. Raven watched in horror as the bag wobbled precariously on the counter.

"Beast Boy, the bag!" she exclaimed, as it tipped over. Reacting quickly, Beast Boy caught the bag after only a small amount had fallen out. Coughing at the small cloud of white powder that had risen, Raven glared at him lightly.

"It could have been worse," Beast Boy laughed nervously as Raven wiped away the thin layer of flour that had covered the side of her cloak.

Of course, at those words, the rest of the bag tipped over.

"Hehe… oops," Beast Boy squeaked, peering at his angry girlfriend through the flour still floating in the air. Nervously, he picked up a clean dishtowel and wiped away the flour covering her already pale features. He smiled at her and Raven felt the corners of her mouth curl up, almost unwillingly. Rolling her eyes, she turned back to the cake mix.

-

Raven looked at the rising cake in the oven. It had been in the oven for fifteen minutes already, and so far it hadn't exploded, burnt to a crisp or refused to bake. That was a good sign.

Turning away from the oven, Raven looked over at Beast Boy, who was currently licking the batter off of one of the mixing beaters. He still had a large streak of white flour across his left cheek.

Raven smiled lightly. The rest of their cake making had gone well, with only a few spills and broken eggs. Walking over to Beast Boy, she sat down next to him and pulled the other beater off the mixer.

"The batter's good," Beast Boy informed her, slurping up the cake mix on his beater.

"Good," replied Raven, delicately licking her own beater. "The cake should be fine then."

They quietly licked up their batter until the oven timer went off. Glancing at each other nervously, they stood up and walked over to the oven.

Beast Boy turned off the buzzer and Raven put the oven mitts on her hands. Opening the door, and forcing herself not to recoil at the blast of heat, Raven pulled the cake pan out. She placed it on top of the stove and closed the door.

Carefully, Beast Boy poked a thin toothpick into the center of the cake. It came out clean.

"I think it's cooked all the way through," Beast Boy said, poking it in a couple more times, just in case. Raven nodded, as each time, it came out clean. "It smells good. Do you think it'll taste good?"

"I guess we'll have to wait until the party to find out," Raven replied, shrugging.

They let the cake cool off a bit before carrying it over to the table, where they had set up icing and sprinkles to decorate the cake with.

Taking a large glob of vanilla icing, Beast Boy spread the icing over the top of the cake. Raven watched as he spread the icing carefully, making sure that every inch of cake was covered. She rolled her eyes.

Once the entire top of the cake was white with icing, Raven picked up an icing bag with a thin nozzle for details. Carefully, she wrote 'Happy New Year' across the cake in bold red letters.

"Hey, Raven," Beast Boy said at her left. Turning to look at him, she was met with a handful of white icing. She glared at Beast Boy as he laughed, and wiped the vanilla icing from her cheeks and nose. "Don't think I didn't notice you rolling your eyes at me while I spread the icing," Beast Boy told her in between bouts of giggles. "Consider that pay back."

Ravenglared at the laughing boy, his words ringing in her head: 'Consider that pay back'. Well, as they said, an eye for an eye.

Beast Boy's laughter was stopped abruptly as more white icing was smeared across his forehead and the tip of his nose. He looked cross-eyed at the daub of icing on his nose and grinned mischievously.

"Oh, you're on!" he exclaimed, picking up an extra bag of red icing and stood up, walking over to her. Raven stood up as well and backed away from him slowly, picking up the other icing bag.

Suddenly, Beast Boy let a large spout of icing escape the bag like a water gun. Raven gasped as it hit her already batter-splattered leotard. She retaliated quickly, running over to him and squeezing the red icing in his green hair. Jaw dropping- whether from surprise or silent laughter, or both- Beast Boy responded by wrapping his arms around her body and pouring red icing down the back of Raven's leotard.

Their icing war went on for a few more minutes before a loudly cleared throat interrupted them. Stopping what they were doing, they looked over to the door to see Robin looking around the icing streaked kitchen. His eyes finally rested in the cake sitting untouched on the table.

"Hey, you managed to bake a cake," Robin said happily, ignoring the fact that two of his friends were currently covered in red and white icing.

He walked over to the table and looked at the cake closely before smiling and walking back towards the door. "You might want to clean up the kitchen before the guests arrive," Robin told them. He said it like a suggestion, but they both knew it was an order. As he walked out the door he turned around once more. "And showers wouldn't hurt either."

-

Raven sat at the kitchen table with a book in her hand, trying to ignore the loud party guests.

"Thank you so much for letting us have the party at your tower. I still can't believe Aqualad's pool flooded our entire living room," Bee said to Cyborg as they walked through the kitchen.

"I told you before, it's no problem at all, Bee," Cyborg replied generously.

Raven rolled her eyes. Maybe it wasn't a big deal to him, but she had spent all afternoon baking and cleaning for this party. Of course, the only thing edible was the cake, and she and Beast Boy would have had to clean the kitchen anyway.

"Hey, Rae," said a familiar voice behind her. Raven scowled and turned around to face the green boy.

"My name isn't Rae," she told him. He just smiled in that annoyingly cute way of his.

"It sure is lucky that the Titans East brought enough snacks for everyone," Beast Boy said conversationally, sitting down next to her.

Raven nodded, and took a quick glance at the kitchen counters, which were covered in snacks. Their cake would be eaten later, after twelve o'clock.

"You know, you've been sitting here reading for most of the party," Beast Boy informed her. She looked over at him, unsure of what he was getting at.

"What's your point?" she asked.

"My point," he replied, eyes glinting playfully. "Is that it's almost midnight, and we've both gotta go join the party in time for countdown."

Raven fought back her blush, knowing that he was hinting at the traditional New Year's kiss between couples. Obligingly, she stood up and placed her book on the table. Looking down at her watch she realized that it was indeed only a minute or so until twelve.

Beast Boy grasped her hand and pulled her towards the living room, where all the guests had gathered. The TV was turned on, showing one of the many countdown shows.

They walked over to where Robin and Starfire were standing closely together, watching the screen intently.

"It is almost timefor the counting of down," Starfire whispered to them excitedly.

"Countdown," Robin corrected automatically. Starfire nodded her head.

"Hey y'all, thirty seconds left!" greeted Cyborg, walking over with his arm slung around Bee.

By now, all eyes in the room were focused on the screen. Everyone, except Raven. Her eyes were focused on the changeling standing next to her.

As she looked at him, staring at the screen with excitement, Raven couldn't help but wonder what the year would bring. Would they be a good couple? Would they make each other happy? Overcome huge obstacles together? Would they break up within the month?

Raven just wasn't sure… until she looked down at the promise ring on her finger. When Beast Boy had given it to her on Christmas morning, he told her that it meant they would stick together.

She looked at him, counting down from ten, and she knew that whatever happened they would make it through the year together.

Perhaps, instead of 'Learn to cook', her resolution should be, 'Make the best of all your relationships' or 'Remember to never be afraid of love'. She probably would have continued these thoughts, despite the fact that they were girly and unlike her, but she had begun to notice that the counting had grown louder.

"FIVE… FOUR… THREE… TWO…" the room of people roared together, nearing the big number. Raven looked over at Beast Boy again and was surprised to see that he was looking at her too. In that one split second any of Raven's lingering fears were gone, replaced with love and joy.

"…ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Beast Boy swiftly pulled her close, kissing her on the lips. Raven returned the kiss eagerly, seeing it as a silent pledge for the upcoming year.

She had no doubts that it really was going to be a happy New Year.

* * *

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I've written better one-shots. I suppose it's not too bad though.

Lol, I just realized that this is the third one-shot I've written with a party in it. And there was another party in a chapter of A Partridge in a Pear Tree. It's pretty strange, concideringI don't even like parties very much ;

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone. Best wishes for 2006!

Tammy Tamborine


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